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United States Patent | 5,736,186 |
Holdren ,   et al. | April 7, 1998 |
A process for producing dry and semi-dry sausage products. Ground meat is admixed with an acidulant (e.g., a food grade acid) encapsulated by a material having a melting temperature of at least about 90.degree. F. The resulting admixture is formed into at least one shaped sausage product wherein the product has at least one cross-sectional dimension no greater than 1.0 inch. The shaped sausage product is then heated at a temperature and for a period of time sufficient to (a) melt the encapsulating material and allow the acid to contact the meat and lower the pH of product to a value no greater than 5.3 and (b) dehydrate the product such that the ratio of the weight of moisture in the product to the weight of protein in the product is no greater than 3.7 to 1. The heating step is carried out for a period of time no greater than about one hour (typically for only a few minutes) and in a heating apparatus operating at a dry bulb temperature in the range of from about 90.degree. F. to about 500.degree. F.
Inventors: | Holdren; William C. (Hutchinson, KS); Alden; Don E. (Hutchinson, KS) |
Assignee: | Doskocil Food Service Company, L.L.C. (South Hutchinson, KS) |
Appl. No.: | 582751 |
Filed: | January 3, 1996 |
Current U.S. Class: | 426/646; 426/513 |
Intern'l Class: | A23L 001/314; A23L 001/317 |
Field of Search: | 426/646,513,241,242,520,92,96,99,650,652,516 |
3904776 | Sep., 1975 | Magnino et al. | 426/513. |
4262027 | Apr., 1981 | Tonner et al. | 426/325. |
4279935 | Jul., 1981 | Kentor | 426/264. |
4362750 | Dec., 1982 | Swartz | 426/59. |
4492712 | Jan., 1985 | Casella | 426/59. |
4497845 | Feb., 1985 | Percel et al. | 426/646. |
4511592 | Apr., 1985 | Percel et al. | 426/646. |
4576825 | Mar., 1986 | Tracy et al. | 426/266. |
4731006 | Mar., 1988 | Freda et al. | 425/190. |
4772477 | Sep., 1988 | Weiss et al. | 426/99. |
4800094 | Jan., 1989 | Freda et al. | 426/513. |
4844922 | Jul., 1989 | Uemura et al. | 426/104. |
5160758 | Nov., 1992 | Parks et al. | 426/506. |
5183683 | Feb., 1993 | Mott et al. | 426/641. |
5639495 | Jun., 1997 | Alden et al. | 426/59. |
Foreign Patent Documents | |||
546429 | Sep., 1957 | CA | 426/516. |
896958 | Apr., 1972 | CA | 426/646. |
964106 | Mar., 1975 | CA. |
Considine et al., Foods and Food Production Encyclopedia, pp. 1160-1199, dated 1982. "Minimizing Cupping and Curling in Pepperoni", Meat Marketing & Technology, p. 46, dated Aug. 1993. Egbert et al., "Development of Low-Fat Ground Beef", Food Technology. pp. 64, 66-68 and 70-72, dated Jun., 1991. A product data sheet entitled "Durkote.RTM. Citric Acid 150-85-Encapsulated Citric Acid" of Van Den Bergh Food Ingredients Group, published in 1993. A product data sheet entitled "Balchem Cap-Shure.RTM. C-135-72 Curing Agent-Meat" of Balchem Corporation, revised Jan. 1994. Lucy Long et al., Food Products Formulary, vol. 1-Meats, Poultry, Fish, Shellfish, pp. 37-59, 1982, Avi Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, Connecticut. R.E. Rust, "Sausage Products", The Science of Meat and Meat Products 3rd Ed., pp. 456-485, 1987, Food & Nutrition Press, Inc., Westport, Connecticut. |
______________________________________ Pepperoni Formulation ______________________________________ Meat raw beef.sup.1 65.71%.sup.2 raw pork.sup.1 28.16%.sup.2 Spices fennel, red pepper and oregano 2.07%.sup.2 Curing Agents salt and sodium nitrite 3.13%.sup.2 Encapsulated Acid citric acid encapsulated with 0.93% hydrogenated vegetable oil ______________________________________ .sup.1 The beef and pork have a combined fat content no greater than abou 50% by weight based on the total weight of the meat. .sup.2 The percent by weight of the component(s) based on the total weigh of the formulation.
______________________________________ Beef summer sausage 3.1:1 Pepperoni 1.6:1 Jerky 0.75:1 Dry sausage 1.9:1 Thuringer 3.7:1 Dry salami 1.9:1 Genoa salami 2.3:1 Farmer summer sausage 1.9:1 ______________________________________